Transitions
by insaneantics21
Summary: A journal-esque type of story chronicling Hermione and Ginny's transition from the Wizarding world in Britain to the Muggle world in America. Eventually will be M rated.
1. Chapter 1

Hello again to all of my Hermione/Ginny fans! I am so sorry that I've neglected all of you for quite some time now, I really am. First school was kicking my ass and then, as you may have noticed, I got on one hell of a _Glee_ kick. Faberry & Brittana have taken over my life. However! I present to you an apology in the form of a medium length multi-chapter fic!

The perspective is one I've only done once before, it's a journal-esque type of thing. It switches from Ginny to Hermione's points of view but I clearly tell you which one is talking so there is no confusion. It is set post-Deathly Hallows but disregarding the epilogue.

This is kind of angsty at the beginning but the overall feel is humor/romance, I think. That's what I was going for, anyways. I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

**-Chapter 1-**

**~*Ginny*~**

You would think that after a year I'd be used to living in the Muggle world. How hard can it be, really? Harder than you think since I didn't really have a choice in the matter. Well, I suppose I did…but this was the best way.

It all started after the war. Hermione…She was…distraught, to say the least. After she found her parents and restored their memories they were killed in a car accident only a month later. She came to live at the Burrow for the remainder of the summer and of course through the holidays while we finished up at Hogwarts.

Harry and Ron were working at the Ministry. They were learning the craft of _legally_ capturing dark wizards. Surprisingly enough it was harder than either of them thought since they couldn't break any rules. Ron was an excellent boyfriend to Hermione at the time, he really was. He always offered her a shoulder to cry on and always had reassuring words for her.

Throughout that summer and the following school year Hermione and I grew close. As close as two people could get in a friendship. Close enough that I never slept in my dorm and instead was in her Head Girl room. The bed was big enough for both of us to sleep comfortably. I didn't think a thing of it, really. I hated sleeping in the dorms with my irritating roommates and sharing a bathroom with them. Hermione and I had shared a room all summer and it was great having a bathroom to ourselves. Occasionally we would wake up in what others would describe as a "more-than friendly position" but again, I didn't think a thing of it. She said she was in love with Ron and I was sure I was in love with Harry. But since Ron couldn't be there when she would wake in the middle of the night crying the job to console her was left up to me and I happily accepted the position.

When the time came for us to leave school and start our careers, mine with the Holyhead Harpies in Wales and her at the Ministry working for house elf rights, we still remained close. We wrote letters back and forth constantly and she and Ron would come to all of my matches they could get to. She'd even come by herself if Ron couldn't be there. She still lived at the Burrow so we always saw each other on my days off. The summer after my first season we found each other again. Harry and Ron were…well they hadn't changed. At all. We both thought that maybe them having responsibilities at the Ministry would help them grow up a little. It didn't. They both still wanted to break the rules and act like little boys.

I know, I sound rather hypocritical since I had been playing Quidditch but after one season it was rather old. I didn't like it as much as I had in Hogwarts. I quit and started working for _The Daily Prophet_. Back to the point though, Ron and Harry just weren't what Hermione and I were looking for anymore. They took the break-ups quite well. To make things less awkward Hermione moved out of the Burrow and into her own flat in London. She invited me to move in with her about two months after she got settled. I agreed. The building looked dilapidated from the outside but as with all Wizarding buildings, looks were deceiving. Her flat was comfortable. There were two separate bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom, and sitting room. Several of our former classmates were also residents in the building. Every Friday night we would have big dinners in the building basement.

Our relationship took a turn…_the turn_…about four months after we moved in together. February twenty-first. The best day of my life. There was a horrible storm blowing through London. It was then I found out that Hermione was afraid of storms ever since her parents' car accident. It explained why we always found ourselves tangled in bed together during our last year only when it was storming or why she always looked tired the night after storms. She came into my room around two in the morning and shook me awake. I lit my lantern and she sat on my bed, holding tight to her chest an old teddy bear.

"This…it's kind of embarrassing, Ginny," she told me. "I…I'm afraid of storms. I never told anyone…"

She cried into my shoulder and told me it was because of the night her parents died. I wiped away her tears and held her head in my hands and told her to never be embarrassed and that I completely understood. I ran my fingers through her soft chestnut hair and kissed her forehead.

"My bed is your bed, 'Mione," I told her. She cried harder. I told her how much I cared about her and that all she needed was a good nights rest and she'd be safe in my arms, I promised. She held onto her bear and lay down, I pushed myself up against her back and after turning out the light I held onto her. Every time there was lightning or thunder she would jump and I would soothe her and hold on tighter. One of her arms found its way over mine and she tangled her fingers with mine. At one point after a particularly loud crack of thunder and I calmed her down she pulled my hand up and gently kissed each of my fingers. I…I loved it. Harry never did anything gentle like that. I knew this was a beyond friendship measure. All I could do was nuzzle into the back of her neck.

"Thank you, Ginny," she whispered.

"Anything for you, baby," I said, not really thinking. There was a silence and she held her breath. "Try to sleep, okay? I promise I'm not going to leave you."

She pulled me in tighter and held on with our hands against her chest. Her heart was racing and mine matched it.

The next morning I found myself on my back with her halfway on top of me. It wouldn't have been out of the ordinary except she was awake…and her hand was under my shirt tracing my stomach with her fingertips. I didn't freak out…It felt…it felt right. It felt like her hand should be there and my arm should be around her and her leg should be between mine.

I turned my head to look at her and she didn't stop moving her fingers. She simply bit her lower lip and looked up into my eyes. My heart skipped a beat. She looked so adorable when she did that. I moved my arm that wasn't holding her and ran it through her hair. It came to rest on her neck and lightly ran my fingers over her soft skin.

"Can I tell you something?" she asked me softly.

"Anything, 'Mione. You know that."

"I-I love you, Ginny. I…I'm _in love_ with you. I'm so in love with you…I don't know how it happened, I really don't. I've…I've been feeling it for a really, really long time and I just can't keep lying to myself anymore. I can't keep lying to you…"

It wasn't until she said it that I realized for sure that I had been feeling it. For years, really. I had loved her as a friend and ever since we started sharing her bed at Hogwarts…it had evolved. I then realized that I had no intention of moving out of her flat or leaving her side, ever. I loved her. I loved her with my whole heart.

Her chocolate brown eyes searched for a response as I briefly lost myself in my own thoughts. She started to pull her hand out of my shirt and roll away. I caught her wrist and pulled her back.

"I'm sorry Ginny…" she murmured. "I just thought…after last night…" She wouldn't look at me.

"I love you too, Hermione."

She looked up at me and I nodded.

"You…you mean it? I mean, you're not just saying…"

"I mean it, 'Mione. I love you."

She stretched her head up and touched her lips to mine. It was unlike anything I'd ever experienced. It was soft and warm and inviting. I completely lost myself in this kiss. She parted her lips and I slipped my tongue into her mouth. She massaged my tongue with her own then pushed it into my mouth. When we parted she had tears in her eyes and streaming down her cheeks. I did too but didn't know it until she kissed them away.

She didn't sleep in her room anymore after that. Sorry to disappoint you but we didn't have sex that morning or any morning soon after. We waited. We thought we'd get married at the Burrow and then we would have our first time on our wedding night even though neither of us were virgins. Still. We wanted to wait.

We thought a lot of things then. What we didn't think was that we'd find out that everything and everyone was against us. Who would think that centuries old laws would put us where we are now? Living in a tiny Muggle flat in the States. I'm working two jobs, one for a Muggle newspaper writing those stupid little columns that no one reads and waitressing in a café. Hermione works in a library and takes classes at a local community college. We make ends meet. Right now the primary concern is her education. It took some confunding charms to get us jobs and her enrolled but we do what we have to.

Why not just move to another Wizarding community, you ask? Surely Salem is still hopping with wizards and witches seeing as how they have a school there? Well, the magical laws are universal. We'll get to the details in a little bit.


	2. Chapter 2

**-Chapter 2-**

**~*Hermione*~**

It was a year ago that our entire world was shattered. I sat at the kitchen table in mine and Ginny's flat looking through stacks of papers. It had been a little over five months since we stopped sleeping in separate rooms. We had been talking about coming out to her family and even the possibility of getting married someday. But now…now I was looking through a loophole, a forgotten amendment, anything. I hadn't told Ginny what I'd found yet. I knew she would be absolutely devastated. Not only that but both of us could be in danger.

The papers I looked through were clear. The centuries old laws clearly stated that a Wizarding marriage, performed by a ceremony official, could only take place between two opposite sex pure-blood humans. The law had been amended only a hundred and fifty years ago to include all humans from Muggles to Muggle-borns to half-bloods to pure-bloods. It still insisted on opposite sex marriages though. Copies of notes and memos from wizards when the laws were written indicated they left the law the way it was to ensure the future of the wizarding population. Even with the recent medical advances in artificial conception the laws were still upheld. There had been two attempts to get it changed but to no avail.

I decided that law wasn't too bad; we could do a small ceremony still, just not anything legal and binding. Then I found the law that nearly made me sick. I was honestly appalled at them having a law like this. I traced it back to the fact that they didn't want to further the stereotypes of the time. Back during the witch hunts, Muggles believed witches and wizards corrupted others into same-sex relationships. Purebloods and bigots had kept the law alive and the reasoning had evolved into simply wanting to keep the wizarding population going, much like the marriage laws. I realized that this was probably the reason why I didn't recognize the names of those that had tried to change the laws and why none of us had ever encountered an openly gay witch or wizard.

Acts of a homosexual nature were punished. Harshly. Persons who were allies of those engaging in those acts were also punished. Apparently they thought ten years in Azkaban with almost daily beatings was enough to turn someone straight and hate gays.

"Hey love," Ginny said when she walked into the kitchen from the fireplace in the sitting room. She sat next to me and slipped an arm around my waist. What I had just read caused me to jump. "Whoa, you okay babe?"

"No…I'm not," I told her. I was still in shock.

"What's wrong?"

"We can't ever get married, Ginny."

I knew what she was thinking. She thought I was going to break up with her. I probably should've phrased it better.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Some…some Muggle laws don't allow same-sex marriage and it got me thinking that I should check up on the Wizarding laws in case we ever decided to get married. Well…there's a reason why we've never encountered an openly gay witch or wizard."

"Okay so we can't get married, what's the big deal? We'll just do an unofficial ceremony…after we get through telling my family of course."

"The big deal is that we can't come out, either. We can't tell anyone…I know we were going to talk to your parents this weekend but we can't, Ginny. The laws…these outrageous fucking laws…gay witches and wizards are shoved in a cell in Azkaban for ten years with near daily beatings. Same for anyone that supports them."

"Please tell me you're kidding, Hermione."

"Read for yourself." I stood up and let Ginny look through the papers.

"This…this is sick! I don't get it! They think a few gay couples will completely end the entire wizarding world? Can we go somewhere else and get married then?"

"The Wizarding laws are universal. The only way we'd be able to is in a Muggle ceremony in a different country since the Muggle laws here don't allow it either. That's not the problem though…the main problem right now is never being able to tell anyone."

"Dammit…" Ginny slammed her fist on the table. "This…all I want is to hold your hand in Diagon Alley and tell my family that I love you!"

I stood behind my love and wrapped my arms around her shoulders.

"I know baby…I know…Maybe…maybe we can still talk to your family. I mean you're all a bunch of blood-traitors. Surely they won't shut you out."

"I want to talk to them alone first, just to see, you know?"

-*-*-*-*-*-

**~*Ginny*~**

I Apparated just outside of the Burrow that weekend. I was petrified. I honestly didn't know how my parents would take this. When I finally plucked up the courage to knock on the door my mother met me with a warm hug. I couldn't help but think that it might be my last.

"Where's Hermione, Ginny dear? I thought the both of you were coming!"

"She's got some work to do. She's been looking at some laws she thinks might need repealing. Where's Dad?"

"Your father is at the Ministry, he had some things to take care of but he should be back shortly. That girl is definitely hard-working. The man she ends up marrying will have his hands full."

"Um…yeah. Hey have you ever heard of laws putting people in Azkaban for being attracted to someone…like…being in a relationship with someone of the same sex?" I figured the best way to do it was to ease into it slowly. Get a feel for the atmosphere.

"I have. Those laws ought to stay the same, if you ask me. It's just not natural. It doesn't produce children."

"Well Mum with the Muggles and their medicine a woman doesn't need to have sex to get pregnant anymore…"

"Those things shouldn't be left to doctors or Healers either one. It's not that difficult to find a good man and have children."

"What about love though, Mum? Do you think it's right if they're not in love?"

"Sometimes it takes a while but I believe you can learn to love anyone if you put your mind to it. What is this nonsense all about anyway? Is Hermione trying to get those laws repealed? That girl should be careful, she will find herself put in Azkaban as well if she tries to pursue this and you will, too if they think you agree with her."

There was my answer. I did the only thing I thought of at that point to try and give myself some more time to think.

"Is there anything left in my room, Mum? Besides the old furniture, I mean."

"I don't know, dear. Go up and take a look if you like."

I headed up the stairs and into my old bedroom. I looked into the closet and found a bag. I shoved the clock by my old bed, a few books that were left on the desk, some quills and ink in the drawers, and a picture of the Gryffindor Quidditch team from my fifth year that was under my bed into the bag. I paced the floor a few minutes before I took a deep breath and went back down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Will you be coming by for dinner tomorrow night?" my mother asked when I came back in.

"I doubt you'll want me there."

"Why would you say that, Ginny?"

I had to do it. I just…I couldn't hide it anymore. It had been hidden too long.

"I didn't come here to just ask you about your opinions on the laws, Mum."

"Oh?" She shuffled around at the kitchen counter.

"Can you please look at me?" She turned around. I took a deep breath. "I've been seeing someone for a while now."

"And when do we get to meet him?"

"You…you know who it is."

"Ginevra…"

My lower jaw trembled but I stood my ground. I straightened up and pulled my shoulders back.

"Hermione and I have been together since February."

I watched the color in my mother's face drain then return. Red. Bright red.

"That…WHORE!"

"Don't ever call her that! Don't you _ever_ insult her!" I yelled. I'd never yelled at my mother before but there was a first time for everything.

"First she goes and breaks Ronald's heart and now she's corrupted you!"

"She hasn't corrupted anyone! I love her! I…I'm gay! I'm gay, Mum! And I love Hermione!"

"Get out of this house! Get out!"

"Are you really going to disown your only daughter because she's in love with someone?!" I could feel my face getting red and I balled my fists up at my sides.

"Until you get over this nonsense I have no daughter."

I almost lost it at that. My breath hitched in my throat but I quickly regained my composure. "That's bullshit! The whole family is a bunch of blood-traitors, why can't you accept this?"

She was nearly purple at this point. I stood my ground when she walked towards me.

"Get out of my house and go home to your filthy…"

"Don't you dare," I growled. "Say what you want about me but don't you dare say _anything_ about Hermione."

"What's going on here?"

I hadn't noticed that my father had Flooed in and was standing behind me in the kitchen. I turned around to look at him and he glanced at me then my mother.

"Go on, tell him!" she screamed. "Break your father's heart!"

"Dad...I-I'm…I'm gay, Dad," I choked. I saw him grip the handle of his briefcase and his jaw twitched.

"What?" he growled. I'd lost. I'd lost both of my parents in that moment.

"Hermione and I…we…we've been together since February." I was whispering at this point. I felt defeated and alone. I'd never felt more alone in my childhood home even when it was only Mum and me during the days the year Ron went off to Hogwarts. I trembled and looked at the floor.

"You have two options," my father said. I already knew what they were and which one I would choose. "You can either…"

"Stop," I said. I looked up at him. "I choose her. If you can't support me in whatever I do then I choose someone that will."

"You're willing to trade your entire family for someone that will ruin your life?"

"She's only made my life better. No matter what happens, my life will be better for having her in it."

"Get out of my house. And don't bother coming back!" he thundered.

"Go home to your whore!" I heard my mother yell from behind me.

"You know," I slowly turned back to my mother, "For someone who loved their daughter and her girlfriend only an hour ago you sure are being a total bitch about this."

When I Disapparated and landed back in our sitting room Hermione was waiting for me. I staggered a bit when I landed and she caught me.

"Merlin's fucking beard, Ginny!" she exclaimed. She immediately summoned a towel from the kitchen and dabbed at the blood that was oozing from the gash on the right side of my jaw.

"I'm fine," I mumbled. "Mum's ring is pointier than it looks."

"She…"

"Backhanded. She's got an heirloom ring she wears. She didn't even look sorry when I started gushing blood all over."

"Sweetheart I am so sorry…I should've demanded that I go with you, I should've been there."

I shrugged her off of me and went to the bedroom. She followed. After she mended the wound on my jaw we spent the rest of the day in bed, she held me while I told her what all had happened and cried. She rocked me back and forth and assured me that we would be okay.


	3. Chapter 3

**-Chapter 3-**

**~*Hermione*~**

I suppose I shouldn't have been that shocked when Ginny came home that day from the Burrow. I was at first though. The more I thought about it, the less it shocked me. Whether or not they were blood-traitors they were still pure-bloods. They had been given the idea of continuing the wizarding population. It was hard after that. Really hard. I saw her father the Monday after at the Ministry. He looked at me then slammed the door to his office. Honestly, I was scared for my life. If anyone had found out…it would be over.

We were on eggshells for the entire week. We didn't go to dinner at the Burrow the next weekend. We were waiting for one of the Weasley brothers to show up at the flat to kill one or the both of us. I figured I would be first.

Sure enough, the next Saturday afternoon we were cuddled up on the couch and I was reading one of my favorite books to Ginny when a knock came on the door. It was George.

"Mum told us everything, Ginny," he said when she answered the door. He looked at me. "Listen, I'm not…I'm not like the rest of them, okay? But Percy…first thing Monday morning he's…that prick is going to report it. You guys need to leave."

"What?!" Ginny's face drained of its color.

"No one is going to stop him, Gin. You guys have got to leave."

"Where the hell are we going to go, George?"

He pulled Ginny to the couch and she sat next to me. I wrapped an arm around her waist and George sat on the coffee table.

"Wherever it is…you can't get jobs having to do with magic. I…I've done the research. I had to. It's the reason Lee Jordan had to leave. I helped him get out."

"I thought he had a job offer in…"

"No, Hermione, he didn't. Listen…I suggest going to the States. Lee was in Massachusetts last I heard from him and he said it was great. Muggles there were pretty okay with it. I'll help you guys in any way I can, I promise. Just tell me what to do and I'll do it."

"'Mione…what…how do we…what do we do?"

"We book a flight, it sounds like."

"Why not fight this?"

"You fight it, you die," George said.

"Ginny we don't have anything here to stay for! My parents are dead, yours hate us. Even if we fought it and won…what do we have that keeps us here? Changing the laws won't change the way anyone feels. Let's just go. I've got a bit of Muggle money left in the bank, enough to get us started at least."

"I can go to Gringotts for you and get everything changed to Muggle money, too. Will that help out any?"

Ginny and I both nodded. We started packing immediately. Luckily I kept that handbag with the Undetectable Expansion Charm. I booked our flight for Sunday evening and by then (thanks to a ton of shrinking charms) the flat was virtually empty. George had emptied both of our Gringotts accounts and I had emptied my Muggle bank account.

-*-*-*-*-*-

**~*Ginny*~**

Did I want to leave? Hell no. My entire life had revolved around magic and Britain and everything in it. Hermione had lived in the Muggle world, she was perfectly fine with hopping on one of those plane things and crossing a bloody ocean to live in it again. I didn't understand what she and George were talking about half the time with passports and visas and whatnot. All I knew was that it was going to be a bitch to get me into some other country since I didn't have a passport already. Whatever they did worked though, I passed through airport security without a problem. It probably took some confunding charms, I still don't know. What I do know is that I am NEVER getting on another goddamn plane again.

Really, how in the hell do Muggles travel like that? Honestly, if someone could let me know I would seriously appreciate it. Hermione didn't want to spend the money on first class which I later had a very lengthy bitching session about, so we were stuck in coach. If I were a few inches taller I would've had teeth marks on my knees because the idiot in front of me decided he needed to recline his seat back the entire fucking time and I had to curl up in my seat.

And the…gods what was it…the shaking! Turbulence! Every five minutes, I swear it! I think Hermione still has indentations where my fingernails dug into her arms. She giggled at me and continued reading through the Muggle newspaper. I have yet to find out the name of the pilot of that plane so I could complain to anyone and everyone that would listen about the landing. I still don't think he actually put the wheels down or whatever. I'm fairly certain he just crash landed the damn thing into the runway.

So, we crashed…I mean, landed…in Boston, Massachusetts. I told Hermione we should move to Salem. She didn't speak to me for three hours because she insisted that wasn't funny. We had an argument with airport security because they thought my rucksack looked suspicious. Try explaining wands to Muggles. Finally Hermione convinced one of them that they were handcrafted knitting needles. The idiots fell for it. I laughed. I'm just glad they didn't look inside her handbag I had stashed away.

Hermione exchanged part of her British Muggle money for American money. She said it would look suspicious to exchange all of it since there was quite a bit of it. We found a hotel for the night, the ass behind the counter grimaced at us when we said we only needed one bed. I started to tell him to go to hell. Hermione shut me up with a kiss. He grimaced again and tossed the room key at us. I slipped my hand in her back pocket as we walked to the room.


	4. Chapter 4

**-Chapter 4-**

**~*Hermione*~**

Chelsea really isn't that bad of a city. It's not too big but not small enough that we were looked at strangely on the streets because we were outsiders. Getting adjusted was…well it was an adventure to say the least. Ginny was almost infuriating at times because she was so stubborn. I spent most of my time the first few days on the internet at the hotel looking for job opportunities that would fit us both. I found the writing job for Ginny and a job for me at a library. When we came here to Chelsea we stayed in a hotel for another few nights before we found this flat. No wait, the Americans call it an apartment. We both got the jobs and Ginny took on a second one waitressing part time so I could start taking classes right away. I decided on a nursing degree since they're in rather high demand and after the war blood and broken bones don't really bother me. School is easy compared to what it took to get Ginny used to living the Muggle way.

The apartment kitchen came furnished and our first few meals…well they were a disaster. Ginny refused to even acknowledge the microwave for weeks. She told me that anything that made food hot without an actual flame was Dark Magic and she refused to touch it. Luckily the stove is gas and there is a flame otherwise I'm sure I would've been stuck with the meals. I don't even want to think about what she would've said had it been electric. When she did finally use the microwave…well we won't go there.

I have to admit I kind of got a kick out of playing with the light switches when we first moved in. She wasn't really keen on the idea of light without fire or her wand, either. She would be on the couch reading and I'd flick the light switch off and she'd scream. I'd laugh. She wouldn't speak to me for an hour.

We did find out that there is a small Wizarding population in the city and there was a post office. Ginny sent George a letter with our address about a month after we got settled. We received one two weeks later in our post box. He said Percy had reported it and once they found out we were gone they had contacted other Ministries to see if either of us had filed for jobs. Obviously they got nowhere. Our names are on a watch list along with Lee Jordan and about a hundred others that fled the country in the last few years after being found out. He got a Muggle Post Office box so we could send him letters as often as possible letting him know we were okay.

-*-*-*-*-*-

**~*Ginny*~**

Muggles are crazy. Seriously. I caught a cold and it got to the point where Hermione forced me to go to a Muggle doctor. Never again. I would rather find a Healer and risk being caught. Honestly, what the hell? I know Hermione is going to school to be a nurse and apparently it's an okay job but really…do they have to torture people like that? Look, all they had to do was tell me I was dehydrated and I would've had some water. Forcing me to sit there for three hours after they stabbed me with a needle and left a tube in my arm to put a bag of water in my veins was really unnecessary. All I really needed anyways was some Pepper-Up Potion but apparently going to an apothecary to get the ingredients was too risky or something. She told me I just needed to get used to it. I told her where she could put the pills they gave me that were capable of choking a Hippogriff. I slept on the couch for two nights.

After a few weeks I decided to give that microwave thing a try. We had to buy the landlord a new one. That thing needs a warning label on the front of the door. "Do not put metal objects in here". Don't put it in tiny print in the inside. Really, who is going to stick their head in that evil contraption to read that? Hermione told me to just put whatever I wanted in there, in this case it was leftover chicken and ham pie, cover it, and then start with about a minute and go from there. She neglected to tell me that it should've been put in a glass bowl and not a metal one. Normally when I see blue sparks flying I think they're pretty. This was downright terrifying. I'm not allowed to touch the new one.

George's letters make me miss home even more. He sent us a picture of Bill and Fleur's daughter and some of his wedding pictures. He said when Hermione and I aren't busy that he and Angelina want to come for a visit. Unfortunately that won't be anytime soon with Hermione going to school through the summer and me working constantly.

I have discovered that I really like bicycles. Hermione bought a pair the spring we moved here and taught me to ride. It was really embarrassing at first but once I got the hang of riding it was pretty fun. Neither of us ever work on Sundays so if the weather is agreeable then we ride around. It also makes getting to work easier since first and foremost we can't afford a car. Also, Hermione is terrified at the thought of either of us driving anything larger than the bicycles.


	5. Chapter 5

Sex!

* * *

**-Chapter 5-**

**~*Hermione*~**

A month after we got here we realized there was no hope for getting married at the time and therefore really no reason for us to wait to get married. Our first time was…it was surprisingly not too awkward considering both of us had only ever been with one other person. And neither of them were girls. It was magnificent as far as first times. It was infinitely better than my first time with Ron. Even thinking about comparing the two kind of makes me queasy. Anyways, it wasn't a special anniversary or anything, and it was Ginny that started it. And it was so sweet.

I came home from working in the library around five in the evening to find the apartment completely dark except floating candles leading from the front door to our bedroom. I smiled and dropped my jacket and bag on the chair and discarded my shoes before following the path of rose petals to the bedroom. I knocked on the closed door and it opened. I was met by the lips of my love and a smile.

"Should we do something about the candles?" I asked. With a wave of her hand they were all out and they set themselves neatly on the coffee table.

"Of course you would be the one to worry about burning down the place down and not tell me how fantastic I am," she said as she pulled me to our bed.

"Well I would imagine it would be difficult to enjoy this if we were both on fire."

She rolled her eyes and kissed me again, her soft tongue probed my mouth and I pushed against it with my own. We fell to the bed and I lay on my side facing her. I bit my bottom lip and searched her eyes. For what, I wasn't entirely sure but I just couldn't pull myself away from them. I slipped my hands through her hair and she wrapped hers around my waist and pulled me in close.

"I have to admit…I'm a little nervous, 'Mione."

"Me too."

"I'm ready though…just…nervous."

"I am, too, Ginny. I think…I think if we just take it slow and relax it'll be fine."

She nodded and I pulled her in for another kiss. She pushed me to my back and I pulled her shirt off. She started undoing the buttons on mine while I undid the clasp on her bra. I tossed the green piece of clothing to the floor and sat up allowing her to pull my shirt off and get my bra out of the way. She looked into my eyes and I bit my lower lip again. It wasn't the first time we'd seen each other's bare torsos, by far. This…this was just different.

"'Mione…I know I don't tell you this enough," she said. Her eyes glistened with tears. "You…you are so beautiful. So beautiful…" I pulled her in and our lips touched again.

"I love you Ginny."

Our kisses became more hurried as she pushed me back onto the bed. One of her hands traveled up my stomach and to my breasts. I wrapped my arms around her and my hands explored the skin of her back. My fingertips ran over the scars on her back from the battles of the war. I could see each of them as my fingertips grazed over them. I knew she would find a few of mine with her own fingers.

She rolled my nipple between her fingertips and I moaned into her mouth. The palm of her hand pushed against the mound of my flesh and caressed it gently. For someone that didn't know what she was doing, she was doing a pretty damn good job. It was probably because she could read me like a book. At times I was certain she had mastered reading minds.

She pulled away and sat back on her knees and undid the buckle on my belt. She rubbed her hand between my legs and I shuddered. She undid the button and then the zipper and slipped the slacks off my hips leaving me in just my underwear. I sat up and unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans and pulled them down off her beautiful hips and she kicked them to the floor, joining the rest of our clothing. She wasn't wearing underwear, as per normal. I smiled. I laid back and closed my eyes. I could feel her staring intensely at me and I let her take her time. Her fingertips ran all over my stomach and up my sides to my shoulders.

I felt her lean closer to me, her body heat was radiating onto my own. She pressed kisses all over my breasts and flicked her tongue over my left nipple before taking it into her mouth for a gentle suck and a bite. I gasped at the slight pain and she looked up at me, wide eyed.

"What? Did that hurt? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I replied breathlessly. "Don't stop."

She gave a tender kiss to the bud she had just nipped and I smiled. As her mouth focused its attention on my other breast I felt her hands running all over my stomach and up and down my side and finally her right rested on my hip. I smiled and placed my hand over hers and slid it down between my legs. She came up and hovered over me. I opened my eyes and looked into hers. I reached up and cupped her face in my hand and nodded. She slipped her fingers underneath the cotton material and I felt two of her fingers start circling around my clit. She kept her eyes locked on mine. I whimpered when she ran her fingers over the bud. She pushed her fingers hard against it and I moaned. It was getting difficult to keep my eyes open and not let them roll back in my head but she was looking at me with such intensity that I didn't want to look away.

I felt her fingers slip lower and she pushed two of them inside me. I grabbed onto a handful of her gorgeous red hair and arched my back. My fight to keep staring into her eyes was lost. Her lips quickly pressed themselves onto my neck and she started thrusting her fingers in and out of me. Her strokes were gentle and slow. She didn't hurry. I could tell she was savoring every single moment. I felt her hips move with the rhythm of her hand and I wrapped the arm that wasn't holding onto her hair around her waist and rested my hand at the small of her back.

She pushed her fingers deep and I moaned with each thrust. She started trailing kisses down my neck and chest and I untangled my fingers from her hair. She kissed and licked all over my stomach down to my navel and she swirled it with her tongue. I raised my hips off the bed and she pulled my underwear off of me and settled herself between my legs. I took a deep breath and tangled my fingers back in her hair. She pushed her fingers back inside me and I felt her warm tongue press against my clit. Her other hand came to rest on my stomach. I bucked my hips against her mouth and she flicked her tongue against my clit again.

She pulled her fingers out of me and I felt the tip of her tongue drag from my clit down to my entrance. I gasped when she pushed it inside of me. The sensation was amazing. I held my breath as her tongue darted in and out of me and finally let it out in a yell when her fingers pressed against my clit again. I moaned her name. My heels dug into the mattress as I lifted my hips off the bed, trying to push closer to her mouth. My muscles started burning and I felt the orgasm building in my abdomen and I cried out her name over and over as I felt adrenaline start rushing through me. Her tongue pushed inside of me, drinking every ounce of liquid that poured from within me and her fingers rubbed my clit hard and fast as I came into her mouth. Her fingernails dug into my stomach and mine into her scalp.

I heard her let out a moan of her own when I collapsed onto the bed. My eyelids were heavy and my chest was heaving. She pressed her lips against mine and I opened my mouth to receive her tongue. I tasted myself and the mixture of that plus the taste of Ginny's mouth was enough to cause me to moan again. She pulled away and I felt her eyes on me again but mine couldn't open. I swallowed hard and ran my hands up and down her back, holding her close to me. I didn't want to let go, ever. She pressed her lips to my forehead and whispered, "I love you."

That was it for me. That was the moment I knew that absolutely everything we had gone through was completely worth it because it meant we got to have that moment. I had known there was something special between us before we left Hogwarts even though I denied it to myself for a long time. That moment with that one simple gesture and those three words were what made me know with absolutely every corner of my brain and every fiber of my heart that I never, ever wanted anyone else to speak those words to me like that.

I opened my eyes to meet hers and a soft smile spread across her lips.

"Hi," she whispered.

I smiled. "Hi," I whispered back.

"Thought I lost you to sleep there for a minute."

I shook my head. "Just thinking."

"Of course." She smiled even bigger and I stretched my head up and kissed her. "So…how'd I do?" she asked me.

"You did fantastic, love. It was amazing, just like you."

She blushed. I reached up and kissed her again. I wrapped my arms tight around her back and rolled us both over until she was on her back and I laid my weight on top of her. Every inch of our skin was pressed together. It was like an electric shock went through me. This beautiful woman underneath me just radiated something that made me not know or care what day it was, or anything else about the world. All I cared about was her. I still do. I always will.

I settled my hips in between her legs and she wrapped her legs around me, pulling me in even closer. I rocked my hips, rubbing against her. I smiled against her kiss and I intertwined my fingers with hers and pulled her arms up above her head and held on. Her hips moved with mine and I let go of one of her hands and ran it down her side and to her thigh. I tried to pull away but her legs wrapped tighter. I could tell she was nervous. She trembled when I tried to pull away again. I pulled out of the kiss and leaned in to hear ear.

"I want to touch you, baby. I want to feel every single centimeter of your body with my fingertips. I want you to feel everything you made me feel. I want you to _feel_ how much I love you…"

She nodded and allowed me to pull away from her and I broke the contact of our bodies to sit up on my knees and look down at her. I placed my hands on her stomach and slowly ran them up to just under her breasts then to her sides and back down to her hips. I took one of her breasts in my left hand, it was slightly more than a handful, soft, absolutely perfect. She let out a little whimper. I leaned back down and kissed all over her chest before taking the pink nipple of her unoccupied breast into my mouth and flicking the hard bud with my tongue. Her chest started rising and falling faster and she pushed her hips off of the bed, silently begging for my hands to roam lower.

I held on to her hip and shifted my body, leaving one leg in between hers. I moved my hand over from her hip and slipped it between her legs and rested it on her inner thigh. She let out a soft moan before I even touched her. I moved my head back up to look at her and kissed her cheek. She turned her head up to look at me and her light brown eyes sparkled. I pressed my lips against hers and my fingers moved through her wet folds. I explored the new territory with my fingers, learning what made her twitch and how she responded when I pressed here or tugged there. It was warm and wet and sensational and I couldn't wait to taste the thick juices that were coming out of her. I pushed my fingers hard against her clit and she moaned. I started circling the bud with my fingers, occasionally giving it a roll between my fingers, she moaned and whimpered into my mouth. I should've known with how much she loves to talk that she'd be rather vocal in bed, too.

I detached my mouth from hers because I wasn't about to muffle the sounds I knew would be coming from her. She held her breath when I stopped rubbing her clit and closed her eyes. I slipped my fingers through the wetness down to her slit. She bit her bottom lip and tried to silence herself when I teased the entrance.

"Don't," I said. "I want to hear it."

She released her lip and I plunged two fingers inside of her and she let out the most amazing sound I'd ever heard. It was somewhere between a moan and a yell and it was deep and just beautiful. Her arms wrapped around my back and her fingernails dug into my shoulders. I thrust again and she cried out my name. Music to my ears. I smiled and continued thrusting. Her hips raised off the bed to meet my thrusts. I started kissing down her neck and chest. I pulled my fingers out of her and positioned myself with my head between her legs. The scent was intoxicating. I dipped my tongue into the folds near her entrance and savored the taste. Tangy, sour, sweet. I flicked my tongue over her clit and she let out a squeal. I pushed my fingers back inside her and gave a gentle bite to her clit earning me another melodious cry from her lips.

"Oh gods, Hermione! Oh baby…"

Her back arched and her fingers slipped through my hair. I needed more of her taste. I pulled my fingers out of her and pushed my tongue in deep. The sticky liquid flowed into my mouth and I swallowed every drop that passed my lips. I fondled her clit with my fingertips, alternating between rubbing it and pulsating my fingers against it. She let out another moan and started to stiffen, I knew she was close. I felt her slit start tightening around my tongue and I pushed deeper. Her moans turned into yells and she thrust her hips up to meet the strokes of my fingertips on her clit and my tongue inside her. I let out a moan of my own when she came. I lapped up every ounce of liquid from her and gave one last kiss just below her navel before coming up to look at my love.

I was greeted with a soft smile and closed eyes. She'd never looked so peaceful. I stayed on top of her until she opened her eyes. I pushed the sweat-soaked strands of red hair away from her face and kissed her forehead then each of her cheeks and finally her lips. I pushed my tongue into her mouth, letting her taste the lingering deliciousness that resided on my tongue. I smiled when our lips parted and gazed into her eyes.

"I love you, Ginevra," I whispered. She smiled and cupped my face in her hands and pulled me in for one more kiss. I shifted next to her and my head came to rest on her chest and my arm across her stomach. She wrapped her arm around me and her other rested on top of mine that was across her stomach.

"So how'd I do?" I asked with a smile as she traced her fingertips on my left shoulder.

"Fan-bloody-tastic, love. If I'd known you'd be that good then I wouldn't have agreed to wait."

I laughed. "So are you going to cook me a nice dinner now that you've completely worn me out?"

She giggled. "I figured we'd let someone else do the cooking and get some Muggle take-out or something."

So we did. Our first post-coital dinner was delivered Chinese food from China Pearl Restaurant. And it's become somewhat of a tradition. The delivery boy says we're now in their top ranked customers because we order it so often so they always throw in a couple of extra eggrolls. He's not shocked anymore when one or the both of us always come to the door completely disheveled, in a bathrobe, and looking starved.


	6. Chapter 6

**-Chapter 6-**

**~*Ginny*~**

Hermione has this scar on her left shoulder from the Battle at the Department of Mysteries. It's kind of a starburst pattern. No one knows exactly what it's from or at what point during the battle it happened but it's quite beautiful. I love the feel of it beneath my fingertips. Two weeks before our first Christmas I got my bonus from the paper and smiled, knowing exactly what I was going to do with it. Hermione protested at first but eventually gave in and let me do it. So now thanks to some guy named Matt that a co-worker at the café recommended, I have a red starburst pattern the exact same as her scar tattooed on my left shoulder. And Matt has a black eye for suggesting a threesome after I paid him. After she punched him in the stomach while he was distracted by the pain in his eye socket, Hermione had to alter his memory so there wasn't the possibility of a lawsuit.

Our first Christmas "together" was beautiful. The Christmas before we were still just roommates so we didn't make much of a big deal of it and we spent Christmas at the Burrow anyways. We went all out with decorations and the tree and everything even though it was only the two of us. It just made things feel more home-like and less we've-been-forced-to-move-here-like. I'd been saving for Hermione's present since the day I first walked by the jewelry shop on my way to work to the café. No, it wasn't a ring, that would be too cliché. And besides, she would've expected something like that on Christmas. What was left over in my bonus after the tattoo gave me just enough to buy it. We spent Christmas Eve snuggled on the couch with bluebell flames covering the coffee table and Hermione reading _A Christmas Carol_. There were three presents under the tree, one to me from Hermione, mine to her, and a box that George and Angelina had sent us. We had tried to open theirs but George had managed to charm it so it couldn't be opened until Christmas.

I awoke the next morning on top of Hermione on the couch. She was on her back and I was on my stomach with my hips between her legs and my head on her chest. One of her hands was covering the book that was resting on my back, the other was still intertwined with my fingers hanging off the couch. The bluebell flames had been extinguished. I smiled and unbuttoned her shirt enough for me to flick my tongue at the space between her breasts and kiss up to her neck. She stirred and opened her eyes to meet mine.

"Merry Christmas, love," I said. She smiled and ran her fingers through my hair.

"Merry Christmas, Gin."

I moved up and gave her a kiss and then rested my head on her shoulder.

"Breakfast now or after presents?" she asked me. I could hear that she was smiling. She knew the answer to the question.

"I think you know that already, Miss Granger. You know I hate waiting to unwrap presents."

She giggled that sweet giggle and kissed my forehead before I sat up.

"Can we at least get some coffee first?"

I sighed. "Okay."

She buttoned her shirt back up and went to the kitchen returning minutes later with two cups of steaming liquid. I had gotten the three gifts from under the tree and put them on the coffee table.

"Two spoonfuls of sugar and a splash of cream," she said, handing me my cup.

"Thanks love. You know me too well," I said. She sat down next to me on the couch and I kissed her cheek. I looked at the box in front of me from her and smiled.

"It's not books," she said with a smile while eyeing her gift. "Too small."

I laughed. "I could've used a shrinking charm to trick you."

"You could've. But you didn't."

"Well go on and find out then."

She picked up the box and carefully undid the wrapping. She looked at the name on the lid and looked up at me, wide-eyed then pulled the lid off and pulled out the treasure inside. It was a silver-heart shaped pendant on a silver chain with both of our birth stones in the heart.

"Oh Ginny…oh sweetheart it's beautiful! Thank you so much!"

I smiled and she leaned over and kissed me then went back to admiring the pendant. I picked up the colorfully and meticulously wrapped package in front of me and tore open the paper and glanced up at Hermione who was looking on in excitement. I looked at the box and saw a picture of what I saw my co-workers at the newspaper always carrying around in their cases.

"It's a laptop!" Hermione squealed. "You don't have to go into the office now to type your articles, you can just do it on here and then save it to a disc and print it off wherever. It's not…I mean it's not the best one out there but it will…"

"Hermione…this is too much," I said. I was shocked. I knew this cost so much more than the necklace and I knew she had to have taken some out of her savings that I told her to _never_ spend on me to get it.

"No, no it's not! I just know how you hate having to go in just to type up your notes and articles and you keep saying that you could use the practice anyways so I made sure to get one with a learning program already installed. And besides, I can use it, too, on days that I don't have enough time at the school or the library to write my papers."

"I…thank you so much 'Mione," I said. I pulled her into a hug. "It's still too much though."

"Nonsense," she said. She pulled away and we both looked at the box from George and Angelina.

I pulled at the lid and it opened, gold sparks shot out startling the both of us. I shook my head. I knew I should've expected something like that from George. In the box was of course a box of assorted merchandise from his store; whiz-bangs, Daydream Charms (his letter said it was "for days when things are less than exciting at work"), and a small skiving snack box ("for days when you just can't stand the Muggles anymore"). There was also a bottle of firewhiskey, a giant box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, two dozen Chocolate Frogs, and two scarves that Angelina had knitted with our initials on them.

We spent the rest of Christmas morning snuggled on the couch and Hermione picked up reading where she had left off the night before. A worker at the library had told Hermione about a program that his church did feeding the homeless a Christmas dinner so we spent the afternoon doing that.

"I want kids, Ginny," she said when we got home that evening and curled up on the couch with a couple glasses of firewhiskey. I sighed. We'd had this conversation before. It was usually after days she'd read to the kids at the library or observed at the hospital in the pediatric ward.

"We can't, Hermione. You know that."

She sighed. "I know. We'd be such good mothers though." She snuggled into my chest.

"If we find out things change then I promise you, we'll do it. We'll adopt or have kids or whatever you want."

I want kids just as much as she does. We both know that we can't though. If we go the sperm donor route then the kid will be born magical and their name will appear on a registry to be accepted to a school and then we'll be found out and it's over. We can't afford to adopt and with me having no Muggle birth records or anything we'd be screwed if we tried that, too. Also, with neither of us having decent paying jobs plus Hermione's student loans we'll eventually have to pay off there's no way we could afford to raise a kid. And we're rarely home and when we are we're exhausted and just want to spend time with each other.


	7. Chapter 7

I hit a brick wall with this story. A huge magical brick wall. I apologize profusely for just ending it like this but I couldn't come up with anything else and I know there isn't much resolve but that's kind of how I wanted to leave it. The story was about their transition, not about a political/legal fight. If I ever get the time I might do a sequel but I have three other really big fics going on right now that I am desperate to finish. Sorry to end it like this but I honestly thought about it long and hard and I decided that this was what was best.

* * *

**-Chapter 7-**

**~*Hermione*~**

This passed year has just been a whirlwind. I don't know where the future will take us. I don't know if those laws will be repealed in our lifetime or if we'll have to stay here forever. What I do know is that as long as Ginny is by my side I won't ever worry about any of it. We'll be together and that's all that matters. She is my everything. I wouldn't have moved across an ocean if I doubted we could be together forever. There was no other option, in my mind. I wasn't about to have her be thrown in a cell and tortured. It would've killed me, honestly. I don't regret any of it and I never will. I wholeheartedly believe my parents would've embraced us and protected us had they been alive to see how happy I am. They always told me that it didn't matter who you loved, just that you loved. Whatever happens, we'll make it through. I know we will.

-*-*-*-*-*-

**~*Ginny*~**

I'll admit that I really, honestly didn't want to leave when George first told us that might be our only option if we wanted to stay together. After a while I figured that I'd already lost my parents though so I really had nothing else to lose. They did disown me after they found out Hermione and I left. George didn't want to tell me but after a few furious letters he finally caved and said that yes, I had been officially burned on the family tapestry that was kept in the sitting room and my hand had been taken off the clock. It was no secret that Hermione and I were together after that. When our names went on the list of wanted persons, everyone found out. The only thing I would change about this if I could would be the bloody laws. I wouldn't change anything else because it brought me to the one person I'm meant to be with, despite what the bigots say. She is my love, the reason I wake up in the morning and the reason I smile before I fall asleep. I don't know what the future holds but if she's in it then everything in my life will be perfect.


End file.
